Laminated solid wall bearing retainer and method of making the same



Feb. 24, 1959 w. J. BLAZEK ET AL 2,875,005

LAMINATED SOLID WALL BEARING RET ER AND METHOD QF MAKING THE SA Filed Nov 8 1955 ATTORNEY LAMINATED SOLID WALL BEARING RETAINER AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME William Blazek and Clinton D. Hillis, New Lexington, 01110, assignors to Lemco Products, Inc., Bedford, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application November 8, 1955, Serial No. 545,617

4 Claims. (Cl. 308-201) This invention relates to hearing retainers, and has This patent sets forth the use of such bearings in die sets for guiding the movements of alignment-maintaining posts of punch presses and maintaining the separable die holders of such die sets in definite relationship to each other.

As heretofore constructed, such bearings have been formed to include cylindrical, solid wall, ball retainers of metallic composition. The manufacture of this conventional type of retainer, in which the ball elements are positioned in the individual openings or sockets thereof, has involved slow, tedious, and costly operations, particularly with respect to drilling the cylindrical walls of such retainers' to produce therein the multiplicity of spaced, radially extending, ball-receiving openings or sockets. It is a leading object of the invention to provide a cylindrical retainer of this type wherein the wall formation thereof is such as to enable the retainer to be more economically produced and assembled than has been possible with prior constructions. Another object of the invention is to provide a retainer Un e t s f fi l 2,875,005 I Patented Feb. 24, 195-9 the preferred form of the retainer constituting the present terial or webbing.

invention is made;

Fig. 2 is an edge elevational view thereof;

Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse sectional view taken through the strip when spirally wrapped to produce the retainer wall;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary transverse sectional view disclosing the ball element socket construction of the retainer wall.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the die set bearing retainer, as illustrated in Figs. 1 through 4, is formed from a sheet 10 of metal, such as brass, aluminum or mild steel, or it may be formed from one or more of the so-called plastics or plastic-impregnated fibrous ma- The sheet 10 is shown herein as possessing an elongated, rectangular form, having its opposite end regions 11 and 12, which may be referred tomanner as the openings 13 and 13a except that the openings 15 possess a substantially greater diameter than the openings 13 and 13a.

In the formation of the retainer, the sheet 10 is first rolled about a cylindrical form, no t shown, of desired diameter with the end region or first lap 11 engaged with having a cylindrical wall composed of thin sheet material disposed in closely adjacent convolutions and producing a laminated structure in which a multiplicity of spaced openings are provided containing and confining rotatable ball elements.

A further object is to provide a retainer for die sets to being so wrapped or folded is formed to include longitudinally spaced groupsof openings, each group containing openings of the same diameter with an intermediately placed group having openings larger in diameter than the remaining groups, whereby to enable the portions of the strip containing first and intermediate groups of openings to be shaped to cylinder formation and ball elements deposited in aligned openings of the first and intermediate groups present therein, thereafter, the portion of the strip containing a third group of openings being wrapped around the cylinder formation and united therewith to confine the ball elements against displacement.

Other objects, advantages and features of construction and formation of the invention will be understood by reference to the following description and accompanying drawings, wherein:

the form and rolled to correspond with the shape thereof. ,The intermediate region or lap is then spirally wound thereabout. With a form of proper diameter and the openings 13 and 15 disposed in predetermined relative order, the wrapping or winding of the sheet about the form will cause the larger openings 15 to be brought into transverse axial registry with the openings 13 at the time of such wrapping, the successive laps may be joined by spot-welding, the use of adhesives or by mechanical fasteners before the outer or last lap is folded into cylinder-producing formation. With the outer lap in a flat state, a ball bearing element B is deposited in each aligned pair of openings Band 15. These elements are slightly smaller in diameter than the openings 15 of the intermediate laps but larger than the diameter of the openings 13 of the first'lap. After such bearing deposit, the outer or last lap 12 is rolled over and secured in cylinderforming order on the outermost of the intermediate laps by any suitable means indicated above, thereby confining the ball elements in the sockets provided in the spirally wrapped convolutions of the sheet material comprising the retainer wall structure. The ball elements eachpossess a diameter in excess of the wall thickness, so'that said elements, in the use of the retainer in a press punch and die set, project beyond the inner and outer wall surfaces for simultaneous contact with guide post and bushing sur faces arranged in concentric relation thereto.

In view of the foregoing, it will be evident that the present invention provides a fabricated, multiple layer, cylindrical wall formation for use as an improved bear ing retainer in various capacities, as in guide devices for die sets of machine presses. The perforated and laminated wall formation enables the ball elements to be easily, ac-

curately and rapidly inserted in the receiving sockets provided therefor in the wall-forming sheet materials, eliminating the slow and relatively costly process now commonly practiced in the formation of such cylinders, wherein solid-wall metal cylinders are drilled radially to produce openings receiving the bearing elements, the later being then retained in the drilled openings by staka 7 ing or punching the enlarged outer ends of the openings to deform the material about the same in producing laterally projecting, element-confining fins thereon. Retainers formed in accordance with the present invention may be made from relatively lightweight, inexpensive materials and yet be entirely satisfactory in providing durable de-' vices of ample strength capable of imparting long and satisfactory service. It will be understood that various other constructions and methods of manufacture may be employed within the scope of the following claims.

We claim: I

1. A; bearing retainer for die sets, comprising: a cylindrical body composed of a spirally convoluted rectangular strip of perforate sheet material, the perforations in said material being so disposed as to provide-in the cylindri cal body formed thereby a multiplicity of axially aligned openings, the latter forming open-ended, radially extending, ball element-receiving sockets, the perforations formed in the inner and outer convolutions of said strip being smaller in diameter than the perforations contained in the intermediate convolutions thereof, whereby to cause said sockets to be smaller at their ends than intermediately thereof, and a ball element rotatably carried in each of said sockets, each ball element having a diameter less than the diameter of the perforations formed in the intermediate convolutions of said strip and greater than the diameter of the perforations formed in the inner and outer convolutions of said strip and having peripheral segments thereon extending radially inwardly and outwardly from said body, said ball elements being retained against radial re: moval from said sockets by the edges of said inner and outer convolutions adjacent the perforations formed therein.

2. A ball bearing retainer for die sets comprising a tubular eylindrical body composed of 'a single spirally wound "strip of sheet-lil'ceinaterial defining at least 'three, substantially concentric, radially su erposed laminations including an inner lamination, an outerlarninati'on and at least one intermediate lamination disposed radially of said body, each of said laminations being of the same thickness and each being formed substantially throughout its full extent with a multiplicity of relatively spaced circular openings with each opening of each lamination disposed in axial registrywith openings of the other laminations, whereby to provide in said body a multiplicity 'o'f ball-receiving sockets disposed in circumferential rows and opening radiallyi'n'wardly and outwardly of saidbody, the openings formed 'in'the inner and outer laminations of said body being of smaller diameter than the openings of the intermediate lamination; and a spherical ball element "'rotata bly positioned in each of said sockets, each of saidball elements havinga diameter slightly less than the diameter of the openings of said intermediate lamination but greater than the diameter of the openings formed in said inner and outer laminations and having peripheral segments thereonexten'di'n'g radially outwardly and inwardly from "said body, the edges of said'innerand outer laminations defining "the openings formed"therein'se'rving to retain'said ballelenients against radial removal fro'msaid sockets.

'3. The method of making a tubular cylindrical ball 'asraoos bearing retainer which comprises perforating an elongated region within the intermediate region of said strip to forma tubular, cylindrical, laminated body with the openings formed in said one end region disposed in axial registry with corresponding openings formed in the intermediate region of said strip and with the said one end region-of said strip defining the inner wall of said body; placing a spherical ball element having a diameter greater than the diameter of the openings formed in the end regions of said strip, but less than the diameter of the openings in said intermediate region, within the axially registering openings of said one end region and said intermediate region;- then winding the opposite end region of said strip around said intermediate region to bring the openings-formed in said opposite end region into axialregistry with the openings of said first-named end region and saidintermediate region and around the ball element positioned therein; and thereafter securing the wound end and intermediate regions together to provide a unitary tubular cylindrical structure with said ball elements held therein against radial removal.

l/The method of making a bearing retainer which comprises perforating a relatively thin rectangular strip of sheet metal to form in the opposite end portions thereof a multiplicity of relatively spaced, cylindrical openings of a predetermined diameter; correspondingly perforating the intermediate portion of said strip between said end portions to provide therein a multiplicity of openings of greater diameter than those formed in said .endportion; shaping said perforated strip to form therefrom a tubular cylinder with one end portion of the strip comprising the inner wall formation of said cylinder, the other end portion comprising the outer wall of said cylinder and the intermediate portion of said strip constituting an intervening wall of said cylinder disposed between the inner and outer walls thereof; bringing the openings of said end portions into axial alignment with the openings of said intermediate portion to form in said cylinder a multiplicity of open-ended ball-receiving sockets; placing a spherical ball element of greater diameter than the openings of said end portions, but oflesser diameter than the openings of said intermediate portion, within each of said sockets; and thereafter connecting the end portions of said strip to the intermediate portion thereof to provide a unitary structure and to retain said ball elements therein against radial removal from said cylinder.

References Cited in the-file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 11,136,077 Wiking et al. Apr. v20, .1915

1,894,595 Mitchel -r Jan. 17, .1933

2,217,259 Schack Oct. s, 1940 FOREIGN PATENTS "857,458 Germany Dec. '1, 1952 

